A baseball tale for Tiger Miguel Cabrera:
It wasn’t exactly the information age but then no one complained. Business ran on the Bell System and US postage, while newspapers, Western Union®, radio & TV kept consumers connected.
And though barely a blip on most people’s radar, a certain sports item was making headlines in the Big Apple that spring of 1961: Maris & Mantle and their pu...

“Babe Ruth is the biggest runner-up in history.”
That’s what the man said, Babe Ruth, a runner-up.
Words from the mouth of sport opinionator Stephen A. Smith last Monday co-hosting with Skip Bayless on ESPN’s hip-hoppin’ morning show “First Take.”
I don’t take-in “First Take” but rarely these days, having been a regular until producers decided the popular show needed fixing ...

If there were a Mt. Rushmore for athletes, Muhammad Ali would be on it.
Chiseled into South Dakota granite, he’d reside alongside that other giant of sporting Americana, Babe Ruth. The years will roll on but the immense stature of these two icons will forever tower over all others.
Filling-out the rest of the foursome is no cake-walk. Rounding-up contenders is easy enough but selecting the ch...

Ever since 1973, American and National League baseball has played by two sets of rules. In either league, three strikes is an out, three outs to an inning and 9 innings to a game. You will see no deviance regarding the infield fly rule and aside from ground rule doubles (which are defined by all 30 stadiums individually) the game basically appears identical. Despite the fact that nowhere else o...

Somewhere between the latest incarnation of SONY Playstation and Star Trek’s Holodeck could be the salvation of our modern economic woes. Trillions and trillions of dollars are spent on the sports industry. $300 million dollar player contracts, multi-billion dollar palaces, billions of public dollars spent to attract and then lose relocated franchises, bidding on Super Bowls to boost the loca...

There are firsts that many people remember. Their first love, their first sports game, their first job and their first sports crush. For me, it was Jim Thome. The year was 1995 and it was the first time I ever paid attention to what teams were playing or who was playing on those teams. It was a good year to be an Indians fan. The team was young, but they were still winning games and...

The small town of Cooperstown in New York with a population of just over 2,000 gets bombarded late every July because of Hall of Fame weekend.
The class of 2011 not only included players Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven, but GM Pat Gillick, sportswriter Bill Conlin and broadcaster Dave Van Horne.
In case you didn't know about the voting process, eligible players are voted on by the Baseba...

Second half winners. A casual ancillary remark back in 2005, around the middle of the season no one thought much of it. Charlie Manuel (in his first year as the Phillies manager) mentioned in passing that his teams always improved in the second half of the season. With only two exceptions (so not “always”), including his 9 years in the minors, Manuel’s clubs had a better record ...

Ruth's last day
Would you really rather see Babe Ruth weighing 300 pounds and struggling to GET to first base when he doesn't hit a home run – or corkscrew himself into the ground swinging and missing wildly at a mediocre curveball? Would you pay good money to see him use his bat as a cane to hold himself up? Who would choose to see the Sultan of Sloth over the Sultan of Swat?
Would...

Four reasons why (health permitting and no action by Roger Goodell) Brett Favre should remain the Vikings' starter the rest of the 2010 season:
1) Favre is the straw
To borrow Reggie’s metaphor, Brett Favre is ‘the straw that stirs’ the NFL’s drink.
As exciting as are Adrian Peterson, Jared Allen and Percy Harvin, it’s Brett Favre who packs ‘em into the Metrodome and every other...

It wasn’t exactly the information age but then no one was complaining. Business ran on postage and the Bell System while newspapers, radio and TV kept consumers up-to-date.
And though barely a blip on most people’s radar, a certain sports item was making headlines in the Big Apple that spring of 1961: Maris & Mantle and their pursuit of Babe Ruth’s hallowed single-season home run ma...

Thursday night in the Bronx, Alex Rodriguez closed within one homer of the 600 mark with a blast off Royals reliever Robinson Tejeda. The long ball was A-Rod's 16th of the season – not exactly a blistering pace, but respectable.
The big question now is, how long until we see number 600? It took him nine games between 499 and 500. I don't want to say that A-Rod is a total head case but I t...